A NEW hydrogen power site, which would be one of the largest of its kind in the UK, could be up and running in Bradford by 2025.

The multi million pound scheme at Bowling Back Lane has been touted as a key step in Bradford’s shift to green energy, and Bradford Council says it could help the city’s taxi fleet move to Hydrogen power in time for the City of Culture year.

The centre would provide facilities for local businesses and residents to refuel their hydrogen powered vehicles.

Details of the scheme will be discussed by Bradford Council’s Regeneration and Environment Committee at a meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) evening.

Dubbed HyBRADFORD, the hydrogen production facility would be developed at the old Gas Works on Bowling Back Lane a facility that is being decommissioned later this year.

An array of solar panels would be built at the facility to provide electric charging points, and an on-site skills and training centre built to train the next generation of engineers.

With fossil fuels being phased out of the vehicle industry in the coming decade, Hydrogen power is seen as one of the possible new clean energy sources that could take its place.

Bradford Council has touted replacing its fleet of vehicles with hydrogen powered vehicles in the coming years.

The Bowling Back Lane site will be developed through a partnership between Northern Gas Network, Hygen Energy and Ryze Hydrogen. This partnership claims the work will create “One of the UK’s largest low Carbon Hydrogen production facilities.”

In 2020 plans for a similar facility at the waste recycling plant at Bowling Back Lane were announced by Bradford Council with much fanfare. It would involve compressed gas being used to fuel a new generation of vehicles such as bin wagons.

But earlier this year it was announced that the plans had been put on hold, partly due to the lengthy waiting list for gas powered vehicles.

A report to Tuesday’s Scrutiny Committee reveals that similar plans are now on the table, with Northern Gas Networks submitting an application for £6.8m into the BEIS Net Zero Hydrogen Fund to help develop the site.

The report adds: “BEIS (Department for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy) funding will equate to 20 per cent of project funding – with the remaining funding provided by the private sector.”

It adds: “First Bus, whose Bradford Depot is situated a short distance from the proposed facility have expressed their desire to convert their depot to operate on H2 and run H2 bus services in the Bradford District and to locations with hilly terrain that are unsuitable for electric buses such as Calderdale.

“The Council’s intends to support the upgrade of vehicles and the adaptation of business to use H2 in line with Subsidy Control requirements.

“The Council also wishes to support the transition of Council Fleet vehicles to H2 and also the potential for the subsidised provision of hydrogen taxis for the 2025 City of Culture.”

The report says both the University of Bradford and Bradford College had expressed interest in the training centre on the site.

A Bradford Council spokesman said: “It is exciting for us to see one of the regions largest companies developing this hydrogen hub, and we hope that the hub will encourage energy users from across the region to convert to low cost, low Carbon hydrogen as their energy source of the future.”

Gareth Mills Strategic Planning Director at Northern Gas Networks said: “NGN has long been committed to supporting the role of hydrogen in the low carbon energy system of the future.

“It is exciting for us to see one of our conventional gas storage sites that has been serving the people of Bradford since the early 20th century now being converted into a hydrogen facility for the 21st Century.”

The report going before the committee also reveals that a vacant plot of land at the back of the neighbouring Bowling Back Lane recycling facility would be used for green energy production.

A four acre site at the facility could see food and green waste collected by the Council collected to be used for “anaerobic digestion” – where it would be broken down as part of a new energy generation scheme.